1Ki 4 | ESV | STEP | King Solomon was king over all Israel ,

1 Kings 4

Solomon’s Officials

1 King Solomon was king over all Israel, 2 and these were his high officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was ^athe priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries; ^bJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 4 ^cBenaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; ^dZadok and Abiathar were priests; 5 Azariah the son of Nathan was over ^ethe officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and ^fking’s friend; 6 Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and ^gAdoniram the son of Abda was in charge of ^hthe forced labor.

7 Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for one month in the year. 8 These were their names: Ben-hur, in ⁱthe hill country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab, in all ^jNaphath-dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as his wife); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud, in ^kTaanach, Megiddo, and all ^lBeth-shean that is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber, ^min Ramoth-gilead (he had ⁿthe villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had ^othe region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as his wife); 16 Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18 ^pShimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, ^qthe country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. And there was one governor who was over the land.

Solomon’s Wealth and Wisdom

20 Judah and Israel were as many ^ras the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. 21 ^{▼▼Ch 5:1 in Hebrew} ^tSolomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the ^uEuphrates ^{▼▼Hebrew the River} to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. ^wThey brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors ^{▼▼A cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters} of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates ^{▼▼Hebrew the River; twice in this verse} from Tiphsah to ^zGaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. ^aaAnd he had peace on all sides around him. 25 And Judah and Israel ^ablived in safety, ^acfrom Dan even to Beersheba, ^adevery man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon. 26 ^aeSolomon also had 40,000 ^{▼▼Hebrew; one Hebrew manuscript (see 2 Chron. 9:25 and Septuagint of 1 Kings 10:26) 4,000} stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. 27 And those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and ^agswift steeds they brought to the place where it was required, each according to his duty.

29 ^ahAnd God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind ^ailike the sand on the seashore, 30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all ^ajthe people of the east ^akand all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was ^alwiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 ^amHe also spoke 3,000 proverbs, ^anand his songs were 1,005. 33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. 34 And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from ^aoall the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.